Friday, March 23, 2012

The small pavilion designed by Toyo Ito in Bruges, Belgium, was commissioned in 2002 as a "symbol of the desire for Bruges to become a contemporary city."In that year, the delightful medieval town of
Belgium, whose historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was
designated as European Capital of Culture and Ito's sculpture was meant to
be a link between past and future.

The pavilion in the form of a steel and glass tube is placed in the midst of a park in the site of a church destroyed in the war, next to the Burg, the impressive Town Hall
square, in the heart of the
city.

At the time it was designed, the pavilion was located on a pond of water and a bridge allowed visitors to pass through it. The hexagonal metal texture seemed diluted
by reflecting on the water, stressing the ephemeral character and the lightness that
Ito seeks to convey in many of his works.

Today, however, it is very difficult to perceive these sensations. Like some of his sculptures in Japan, such as the Egg of Winds , the pavilion looks abandoned, and the pond has become a muddy puddle.

This circumstance has opened a debate on temporality and permanence.While the work was conceived as temporary with a life expectancy of
one year, its enormous cost (750.000 euros) has extended his presence for a
decade. If it have been dismantled as planned, it would have been criticized as too ephemeral. On the other hand, its long presence in the urban
landscape has opened a heated debate about the interaction between
contemporary architecture in history.

Moreover, its abstract nature, which contrasts aggressively with
the historic environment in which it is located, and the cost of
maintenance over the years, has led to many residents have called for its
demolition, which I understand, has been accepted. El pabellón ha sido apodado como “el lavadero de carros del gobernador”. The pavilion has been dubbed "the governor's car wash." Others, however, stressed that this sculpture has become part of the collective memory of the city, and therefore it should be preserved.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A building created by our hearts.
Tadao Ando's speech at the dedicational ceremony on May 14, 1989.

Today,
I am deeply moved by the feeling that at last the church has been
really completed because we, as builders, and the church members, as
users, have been looking forward to the completion eagerly.Looking around Osaka, many buildings have been constructed or are under construction.In
many cases, builders, carpenter, plasterers and others in the field of
construction do not know what building they are making. Owners of
buildings just think about why economic results or how they can make
money. People leaving close to construction sites aren't just hoping to
recover silence of their area after constructions will finish.

They are not expecting how they are going to utilize buildings. Many
buildings are completed without celebration by builders or people close
to them. However, construction of this building was tough. At
the beginning, Mr. H. Miyamoto and Minister Karukome came to our office
to commission us for a design. They explained about the conditions.
First, they had incredibly limited funds at hand. Second, they wanted to
build a new Chapel in addition to that existing wooden building which
they were using as a church at that time. After I heard their
explanation about the conditions, I said that it would be impossible to
realize this plan. I thought that it would not be completed to the end.
The more I met them and they send to their plan, the more I felt
desperate. But I came to the conclusion that I would challenge this
very tough project because the church people's passion and eagerness
gave me hope. I undertook this work knowing that there would be many
difficulties.

As I anticipated, we did have many problems. The hardest one was the
construction rush in that Osaka area. When we were going to finalize the
design, it was a very hard to find a construction company to realise
this project. One day, Mr. Ichiryu, President of the Tatsumi
Construction Company, came to us and said they would undertake this
construction, because it would be highly significant to complete this
building although they thought they could not make any profit on it.
Since I was deeply touched by his passion, I said to him "let's make
progress through hardships".

One of the big difficulties was labour
shortage in the construction field like concrete form work crafts men.
Workers, on the way to our construction field, often change their mind
to get another job where they could earn higher wages.

Construction was gradually behind time schedule. I thought that this chapel might be completed without any roof.

But, the church community and the people engaged in construction did not give up hope.

At
that time, I had less chance to visit the construction site and could
not share their sufferings which I could easily have understood if I
have met them.

Anyway, the members of our church community, the people of the
construction company and Tadao Ando Architect & Associates continued
to walk together looking for a glimmer of hope. Due to their hard
efforts, at last the construction was completed although it was behind
schedule. I have learned that were money makes the world go round, an
assemblage of people's hearts put forth their strength. That is really
what I should commemorate. I will keep in mind that people's hearts can
break economy.

Today, I am quite delighted, but had some concern this morning. On the
way to this ceremony, I became concerned about whether the church people
would use this building well which our office, Mr. Ichiryu and his
company people have brought up under our enduring care in a will hand
over to the church people today.

However, looking over your face
this year, I am now confident that you will keep this building with
even better care that we could expect and that it will improve as time
goes by.

We have just given birth to it. I think that it will grow
while you are using it. And, I hope that this building will help this
church become indispensable to the city in 20 or 30 years.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Spillmann Eischle Arkitecten's proposal for a Freitag store, a factory of tarp-bags in Zurich,
Switzerland, shows that a modern building can be made even with
modest materials, considered by many as debris.

The Freitag shop, specialized in tarp bags, is located near a major highway and the main railway line in Zurich, in an abandoned industrial plot.

In 2006 the architects proposed to reuse a group of 17 industrial containers to shape this unusual proposal.

The containers were brought from Hamburg and assembled with industrial elements. Aside of their rusty appearance, the community has contributed with numerous graffiti.

The
building sits on a concrete base, some distance away from the avenue and
is composed of two areas, the customer service, a double height area comprised
of 4 x 2 containers, and which exhibits several products, such as protectors
for cell phones.

Contiguous to this, stands a tower where different models of bags are stored and displayed. The tower is accessed via an internal staircase.

The large windows on
one side of the facade and the mirrors located inside, generate a sensation of spaciousness in this narrow space, in addition to the play of light and space in the stairways.

Externally, the tower is an iconic landmark not only for the industrial
character of its composition, but for the environmental message that the company wanted to
convey: both its products and its flagship store use of recycled materials
to deliver ingenuity and functionality .

MY ARCHITECTURAL MOLESKINE

MY ARCHITECTURAL MOLESKINE

Notes on the fly throughout an exciting journey, a logboof of emotions and senses while walking between architectural spaces bathed in light, surrounded by landscape, or being part of it.

Just like in a moleskine - that notebook where travelers compiled writings and drawings of their visits- this blog offers you, dear reader, my own collection based on my personal experience about interesting sites visited in recent years.

Welcome to My Architectural Moleskine

"What I hear, I forget; what I read, I remember; what I do, I learn; what I teach, I know."

Old Chinese proverb.

About me

Architect and urban designer, professor in universities in Peru and Russia. Post PhD. researcher on urban design and landscape in Japan. Earned his PhD in Urban Environmental Planning at Kyoto University, Japan and Master degrees in Sustainability in Argentina and Environmental Management in Peru.

The texts, graphics and photos, unless otherwise stated, belong to the author of this blog.They may be used for personal and academic purposes, as long as the respective authors and source are acknowledged.Its use is not allowed for commercial purposes.